by Emme Rollins, Julia Kent, Anna Antonia, Helena Newbury, Aubrey Rose
“My heart is strong, its beat goes on
Nothing can stop me now until I have won
If I can’t love my own freedom and truth
Why would you trust me when I say I love you…”
He’d found me in the crowd. I don’t know how, under all those lights, but he’d found me and was looking right at me. The energy between us was electrifying. I felt it surging through me, making my toes curl and the hair at the back of my neck stand on end.
“I’ll take you places, baby, you never could
Don’t make me hurt you, baby, for your own good
I’ll be your lover, I’ll be your man
Just never ask me not to be what I am
These hands that work, fight and play hard at night
These hands you trust, girl, everyday to treat you right
Don’t you forget, girl, that they’re led by my heart
They’ll always put first what I’ve loved from the start…”
The song ended and the lights went dark again.
The crowd went absolutely wild. So many people rushed the stage we were being crushed. I could barely breathe. The crowd chanted, “Black Diamond, Black Diamond, Black Diamond.” The cameras were still rolling and Dale stood at the microphone, head down. I saw his chest rising and falling with his breath, even in the dim haze. The emcee came onto the stage, leaning over to say something to Dale, into his ear, behind his hand. Then Dale handed the microphone over.
The spotlight went on, illuminating the emcee and Dale beside him.
“You want more of Black Diamond?” the emcee asked.
The crowd screamed like crazy. I did too.
“Here they are for an encore. Black Diamond!”
The emcee handed the mic back to Dale and they were off to the races, doing another cover, this one by Journey. I watched Dale move across the stage, beautiful and strangely graceful, striding back and forth like he owned it. And he did. He didn’t just know it, everyone knew it—even Rick, the envious lead guitarist, who came over to Dale while he was singing, both of them playing guitar together, making the crowd cheer.
No other band that night had been asked to do an encore. I knew then, if I hadn’t already known, Black Diamond was going to make it.
The emcee took the microphone when the song was done, trying to calm the crowd as Dale and the band broke down their equipment with the help of the stage crew. There were other bands to follow. I felt sorry for them.
We made our way back and found the table we’d been sitting at with our drinks still waiting. Carrie and Wendy stayed out on the dance floor because INXS was now playing over the speakers, the lights pulsing to the beat of the music. Matt, Aimee and I looked at each other, all of us still a little high from the performance.
“He’s going to be a fucking rock star.” Matt shook his head in disbelief, taking a swig of his beer.
“I know.” I did know. I just wasn’t so sure how I felt about it.
“What’d you think?” Dale grabbed a chair and sat astride it next to me, surprising me out of nowhere. “Were we okay?”
“Are you kidding me?” Aimee put her arms around his neck, kissing him on the cheek. “You were fantastic! If I wasn’t engaged, I’d ask you to marry me!”
Dale stared at her, eyes widening. Then he looked at Matt, grinned, and held up his hand for a high five. Matt came across and gave him one, both of them laughing.
“Congratulations!” Dale said.
“You’re really good.” Matt shook his head again like he couldn’t quite believe what he’d seen. There were girls already gathering in groups, giggling and squealing and pointing at Dale. I knew once they gathered the courage they would be approaching him for autographs and whatever else they could think of to entice him.
“Thanks.” Dale turned to me, leaning closer so he could say it in my ear. “What did you think?”
“You were amazing.” I felt his hand slide into mine. “But you’re always amazing.”
“I wrote that song for you.” He leaned in closer, his lips brushing my ear. “They’re all for you.”
“What do you think all those girls would say if you told them that?” I pointed into the crowd where there were groups of girls gathering like storm clouds.
“I don’t care.” He took my chin in his hand, turning it to face him. “You’re all I care about. Yours is the only opinion that matters to me.”
He kissed me, a slow, claiming kiss. My arms went around his neck, fingers moving through the thick, dark silk of his hair as his tongue found mine. Whenever I kissed Dale, everything else went away. I didn’t think about who might be watching or what they might be thinking. There was nothing in the world but Dale and his sweet, soft, perfect mouth on mine, a connection I never wanted to break.
When we came up for air, that’s when I remembered the rest of the world. I saw all the girls who had been swooning over him on stage looking at us, jealous. Part of me liked the feeling, knowing he was mine, knowing they wanted him but couldn’t have him. He’d chosen me. But Dale seemed oblivious to the rest of the world, pressing his forehead to mine, eyes closed, nostrils flaring as he took a deep breath.
“Come dance with me.” He grabbed my hand, dragging me out onto the floor. INXS—Need You Tonight—was still playing over the huge floor to ceiling speakers and Dale put his arms around me, edging our way through the couples and groups dancing, completely ignoring the girls who reached out to touch him or compliment him on his performance.
The body heat on the floor was intense. The whole club hung with a hazy humidity. Someone had propped a back door open to let in the cold winter air, but it didn’t seem to help. I was sweating, my t-shirt sticking to me, but Dale’s hands went there anyway, pulling up my shirt and sliding his hands along my lower back to move my body with his. His mouth found mine as we danced, and I moaned as his hips pressed into my pelvis, grinding against me to the beat of the music. It wasn’t dancing—it was sex.
“Dale,” I whispered into his ear, holding onto him as he propelled me across the floor, leading me, our bodies melded together, moving as one. My knees were weak but he held me with one hand, guiding me with the motion of his hips. I was completely his to do with what he wanted and he knew it.
“I have to fuck you,” he growled, his teeth raking my neck.
“Here?” I gasped, my nipples hardening instantly, my sex contracting, hot and wet. I saw Wendy and Carrie on the dance floor together—INXS was Wendy’s favorite—and they were watching us. Dale glanced over, seeing them too.
“Now.” His cock was like an iron bar, grinding into my crotch as we moved, his hand moving lower, dipping into the back of my skirt, tugging on the back of my panties. “I want to be inside you.”
I moaned as he began a back and forth, see-saw motion, threading my panties through the slippery seam between my legs.
“Where?”
“Come on.” He didn’t let me go and I saw Carrie through half-lidded eyes. She was grinning, nudging Wendy as Dale danced me off the floor. His mouth found mine as he pushed me up against the wall once we were backstage. The bathrooms were down this hall and people moved past us, but I was oblivious to anything but the flurry of their movement as they passed. Dale had me up against the wall, grinding, his belt biting into my belly, my legs wrapped around his waist.
“Not here,” I gasped.
“No.” He carried me, still wrapped around his waist, down the hall, past the bathrooms, straight-arming a door and taking me inside.
I looked over his shoulder as he turned on the light, revealing a small room stuffed with amps, speakers, stage lights, cords hanging from hooks on the wall. He pushed the lock on the door as he closed it behind us, kissing me and pinning me against it. I grabbed the edge of his t-shirt, pulling it up and off, running my hands over the hard, smooth planes of his chest, moaning when he thumbed my hard nipples through my shirt.
There was nowhere to lie down, but that didn’t seem to bother him as
he held me in place against the door with his hips, peeling my t-shirt off and unhooking my bra in front. He looked down at me like he wanted to devour me—and then he did, driving me further up against the door so he could cup my breasts in his hands, sucking greedily. I whimpered, squeezing him hard between my thighs, crushing his ribs, my sex pulsing.
Dale groaned, coming up for air, eyes so dark they looked black under the fluorescent light as he maneuvered me, throwing my thighs up over his shoulders and lifting me higher, my body slick with sweat, my back sliding easily against the metal door. I gasped in surprise, grabbing onto his head, the only thing I could reach, as he buried his face between my legs, my denim skirt pushed up to my waist.
My panties were still on but he didn’t let that stop him, nosing them out of the way and tonguing my sex, making low, growling noises in his throat like a big cat purring with pleasure while it devoured its prey. The room spun, the shelves of equipment around me melting away, and I closed my eyes, too high, too dizzy, to keep them open. His tongue was doing things to my body I didn’t even know were possible.
“Oh God, oh God,” I cried, back arching, looking for something to hold onto and finding only the top of the door frame, my nails raking the wall behind me, writhing on top of his shoulders. I wasn’t sure if I was looking for a way out or a way through, I just knew my body was so close to climax I felt as if I just might actually burst.
And then I was coming, his tongue flickering furiously between my legs, his face buried against my swollen, spasming sex. I cried out, even though I told myself to be quiet, I couldn’t, calling his name, my hands in his hair, my body pitching forward with the tremors of my orgasm. He held me by my hips, steadying me, never stopping, his mouth bringing me so much pleasure I thought I might pass out.
I don’t remember how I got in his arms. He let me go a little and I slid down the door like Wylie Coyote hitting a cartoon wall. I could barely breathe already and then he kissed me and I tasted myself in his mouth, musky and tangy. I moaned, sucking at his tongue, and he gasped, pressing me back into the door with his hips, letting me feel how hard he was through his jeans, hands digging into the flesh of my ass.
Then he let me go to unbuckle his belt. My gaze moved from the dark look of lust in his eyes, down his bare chest, to his hands working his belt. I couldn’t hold myself up, my knees were too weak and I sank to them, reaching for his zipper. Dale stopped, watching as I nuzzled his crotch, sliding his jeans down over his hips, moaning as his cock sprang free.
“Suck it.”
But he didn’t have to tell me, I already had it in my mouth, the tip wet with pre-cum, velvety smooth on my tongue, sliding toward the back of my throat as he shifted his hips forward. His hand moved in my hair, guiding me, and I moaned around his shaft as he began fucking my mouth, a slow, steady rhythm, looking down at me with dark, lust-filled eyes.
I gasped as he began to move faster, sliding his cock deeper into my throat, seeing the studded flash of his belt as he thrust, the buckle biting my cheek when he grabbed my head and held himself there, buried almost to the hilt. And still, I wanted more of him, the peppery taste of his pre-cum making my sex ache until I couldn’t stand it.
I reached down to touch myself and Dale’s eyes widened, watching me spread my thighs, panties still pulled aside as I rubbed the swollen, aching nub at the top of my cleft. His motion slowed as he watched me, and I whimpered when he withdrew, sticking my tongue out, licking the tip, still within my reach, but he pulled my head back, his fist in my hair, shaking his head.
“No, I want to fuck you,” he insisted, and my pussy clenched at his words in anticipation. “I have to fuck you.”
There was nowhere to go, no couches or tables, not even a chair. Dale glanced around the room and then, decisive, pulled me gently to standing. I was still wobbly, and he grabbed me to him with one hand, moving me again with his hips, but this time I could feel his cock shifting between my thighs as if seeking entrance.
He slid me over, past the door, in front of one of the wooden shelves where they stored the stage equipment. There was just enough room between two of the small amps, and the shelf was the perfect height as he lifted me up on it. I spread my legs to make room for him between them and he came to me, kissing me hard against the cold wall, feeling the head of his cock sliding up and down against my swollen mound.
I gasped when he found me, our eyes locking as he slid slowly inside, his face saying everything his mouth couldn’t once he’d slipped all the way inside, filling me completely. His eyes closed for a moment, just one, brief, fleeting moment, his lower lip drawn between his teeth, his cock throbbing inside of me, a steady beat, like the pulsing of the music before the lights went up and he began to sing.
He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
Then he opened his eyes to look at me, and the emotion there, the love and the lust and the pain and the anger, all of it there in his eyes, took my breath away. I knew then in that moment he was giving me everything, he had already given it to me, had been trying to hold it back and had failed, all this time, afraid to be hurt, afraid to be vulnerable, afraid I might turn away or reject it, and I couldn’t believe he would think I would, I could.
I wanted him, all of him.
He began to move in me, hips rocking me on the shelf, cock deliciously wet with my juices, sliding easily in and out. Dale reached down to grab the edge of my skirt, shoving it up so he could look down and watch himself go into me. My panties were still shoved to the side, giving him access. I loved the way he looked at me, like he could have swallowed me whole.
“Look,” he whispered, sliding slowly out of me, almost all the way out.
I bit my lip, watching as he slipped back inside, the two of us becoming one like some magic trick as he made himself disappear inside of me, at the same time filling me up completely. It was the most amazing thing in the world, and when I met his eyes, I knew he saw it too.
“Touch yourself,” he said, his gaze still hot between my thighs. “I want to watch.”
I slipped my hand down between my legs, gently nudging my clit, shivering at the sensation, my nipples hardening instantly. Dale’s eyes lit up as he watched me pleasure myself, my fingers making circles around and around, the feeling so much bigger with him buried inside of me like this, it was almost too much.
“God you’re so fucking beautiful,” he said hoarsely, his fingers gripping my hips hard, digging deep. He lowered his head to mine, whispering in my ear, “Is that what you do when you think about Tyler?”
“No!” I gasped, denying it, my legs going around him as he shoved himself in deep, buried to the hilt. “It’s what I do when I think about you.”
He pulled back to look at me, searching for the truth, and I saw it in his eyes, the need to possess me, the need to keep me and hold me and have me, forever, his and only his. I didn’t know what to do, what to say, to convince him, so I just put my arms around his neck and gave myself to him completely, begging him to take me, to make me his.
“You are,” he growled, driving into me harder now, faster, hips working between my legs. “Mine. Mine. So. Fucking. Mine.”
“Say it,” he hissed into my ear, biting my lobe, making me yelp in surprise. “Tell me you’re mine.”
“I am,” I whimpered. The force of his thrusts shook the shelf, the whole wall behind us, but neither of us took much notice. “Oh God, yes, Dale, I’m yours. I’m yours. All yours!”
He gave one last shuddering groan, sinking so deeply, almost painfully, inside of me. It was like being impaled with a spear and I could have sworn I tasted him at the back of my throat as he came, every white-hot burst of his cock spilling millions of his seed, marking his territory, making me his in a way no man ever had—or ever would again.
I kissed his moist cheek, his jaw, found his mouth and kissed him fully on the lips, our breath still hot and fast and gasping, wishing I could tell him how much he meant to me, but there just weren’t words.
/> When he opened his eyes and looked at me, I was lost.
Smiling, giving me just a brief flash of his sweet dimple, he touched the tip of my nose with his and asked, “Do you really think we’ll make it to the finals?”
I cupped his face in my hands, kissing him again, soft and brief and loving.
“You’ll make it,” I assured him, confident.
And they did.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“You’ll be my Bonnie, baby,
I’ll be your Clyde
You’ve got my shotgun
On this suicide ride
If they ever catch us
They ain’t gonna like what they find
We’re taken no prisoners, baby
No one gets out alive…”
I sat and watched them, quietly sketching Dale. We were in the academy auditorium and Black Diamond was practicing on stage. It was going on four o’clock and we’d been there since two-thirty. They were finally gearing up for the finals in April—they had sailed through the semi-finals as easily as the first round. They were a favorite to win the finals, which would be held in New York and televised on MTV.
Dale had written this song and they were trying it out and drawing quite a crowd with it.
“If we’re going down
We’re going down in a blaze of glory
Our burning hearts will tell the story
We will rise from the ashes, baby
Going down in a blaze of glory…”
Dale was playing to an audience of about thirty who’d been drawn by the music. There were two janitors who had decided to stick around and watch and the rest were fans who had heard he was practicing and had decided to stay after to watch. My sketches of him were getting better, I decided. I’d managed to capture part of his energy on paper, but it was still so difficult to do.
“If we’re going down
We’re going down in a—”